User classification based notification

ABSTRACT

A classification based notification system is disclosed which performs operations that include: accessing user profile data associated with a user account associated with a client device, the user profile data including a list of user connections; designating a notification type to a portion of the list of user connections, the notification type corresponding to an alert attribute; receiving a notification from a user connection from among the portion of the list of user connections at the client device; and presenting an alert based on the alert attribute that corresponds with the notification type associated with the portion of the list of user connections at the client device.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to mobilecomputing technology and, more particularly, but not by way oflimitation, to systems for presenting notifications.

BACKGROUND

Messaging applications are apps and platforms that enable messagingbetween users. These messaging applications often enable users tomaintain a contact list (i.e., buddy list, user connections, etc.) thatcomprises a collection of user identifiers. Users of the messagingapplications may thereby generate and distribute messages to users fromamong their contact list, and notifications of the messages may bepresented at corresponding client devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, themost significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to thefigure number in which that element is first introduced.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a networkin accordance with some embodiments, wherein the messaging systemincludes a classification based notification system.

FIG. 2 is block diagram illustrating further details regarding amessaging system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating various modules of aclassification based notification system, according to certain exampleembodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting a method of presenting a notificationbased on a user classification, according to certain exampleembodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting a method of presenting a notificationbased on a user classification, according to certain exampleembodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting a method of designating a notificationtype to a user classification, according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting a method of designating a notificationtype to a user classification, according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart depicting a method of designating a notificationtype to a user classification, according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 9 is an interface flow-diagram depicting graphical user interfaces(GUI) generated and displayed by a classification based notificationsystem, according to certain example embodiments,

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a representative softwarearchitecture, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described and used to implement variousembodiments.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As discussed above, messaging applications provide interfaces for usersof the messaging applications to distribute messages between oneanother. The messaging applications may notify the users of messages bypresenting notifications, wherein typically those notifications maycomprise a display of message content: While the existing messagingapplications are useful, there is always a desire to find better,quicker, and more efficient ways to convey relevant information to usersof the messaging applications. Accordingly, in certain exampleembodiments, a classification based notification system is disclosedwhich performs operations that include: accessing user profile dataassociated with a user account associated with a client device, the userprofile data including a list of user connections; designating anotification type to a portion of the list of user connections, thenotification type corresponding to an alert attribute; receiving anotification from a user connection from among the portion of the listof user connections at the client device; and presenting an alert basedon the alert attribute that corresponds with the notification typeassociated with the portion of the list of user connections at theclient device.

The classification based notification system may designate thenotification type to the portion of the list of user connections basedon an explicit user input received from a user associated with theclient device, or in certain embodiments based designate thenotification type to the portion of the list of user connections basedon attributes associated with the portion of the list of userconnections, wherein the attribute includes a classification.

For example, a portion of a list of user connections associated with auser account may be designated one or more classifications based on aninput received from a client device, or based on user activitiesperformed by the users among the list of user connections. Accordingly,the classifications may be designating by a user accessing theirpersonal list of user connections, and assigning a classification to oneor more of the users among the list of user connections, wherein theclassification may indicate a relationship (i.e., family, close friend,co-worker, neighbor, business connection, etc.), or may be based onattributes of communication sessions and user activities performedbetween the user and each of the users among the list of userconnections.

As an illustrative example, in certain embodiments, a frequency or ratein which bidirectional communications (i.e., messages) are exchangedbetween a user and one or more of the users among the list of userconnections may be a factor in determining what classification to assignto a user connection among the list of user connections. For example,the classification based notification system may maintain a repositoryof user classifications, wherein the user classifications are associatedwith certain threshold values. Those threshold values may for exampledefine a number of bidirectional communications which must be sentbetween a user and a user connection within a period of time in order toreceive the classification.

In some example embodiments, the alert attribute of the alert mayinclude auditory elements (i.e., a tone, a pattern, a volume), as wellas visual elements such as graphical icons, and haptic elements(i.e.,vibrate, frequency of vibration, etc.). Accordingly, notificationsreceived from user connections may be presented to a user of a clientdevice based on alert attributes of a corresponding classification. Forexample, notifications received from a user connection designated as a“close friend” may be presented to the user based on the alertattributes that correspond with the “close friend” classification. Thesealert attributes may include one or more of a special ring-tone, hapticalert, or graphical icon. The user may therefore quickly determine whattype of message or notification they are received based on theattributes of the alert presented, without necessarily having to see themessage or notification itself.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network.The messaging system 100 includes one or more client device 102 whichhost a number of applications including a messaging client application104. Each messaging client application 104 is communicatively coupled toother instances of the messaging client application 104 and a messagingserver system 108 via a network 106 (e.g., the Internet).

Accordingly, each messaging client application 104 is able tocommunicate and exchange data with another messaging client application104 and with the messaging server system 108 via the network 106. Thedata exchanged between messaging client applications 104, and between amessaging client application 104 and the messaging server system 108,includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) as well aspayload data (e.g., text, audio, video or other multimedia data).

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104, Whilecertain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein asbeing performed by either a messaging client application 104 or by themessaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location ofcertain functionality either within the messaging client application 104or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, itmay be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology andfunctionality within the messaging server system 108, but to latermigrate this technology and functionality to the messaging clientapplication 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processingcapacity.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client application 104. Suchoperations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, andprocessing data generated by the messaging client application 104. Insome embodiments, this data includes, message content, client deviceinformation, geolocation information, media annotation and overlays,message content persistence conditions, social network information, andlive event information, as examples. In other embodiments, other data isused. Data exchanges within the messaging system 100 are invoked andcontrolled through functions available via GUIs of the messaging clientapplication 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, anApplication Program Interface (API) server 110 is coupled to, andprovides a programmatic interface to, an application server 112. Theapplication server 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which is stored dataassociated with messages processed by the application server 112.

Dealing specifically with the Application Program Interface (API) server110, this server receives and transmits message data (e.g., commands andmessage payloads) between the client device 102 and the applicationserver 112. Specifically, the Application Program Interface (API) server110 provides a set of interfaces e.g., routines and protocols) that canbe called or queried by messaging client application 104 in order toinvoke functionality of the application server 112. The ApplicationProgram Interface (API) server 110 exposes various functions supportedby the application server 112, including account registration, loginfunctionality, the sending of messages, via the application server 112,from a particular messaging client application 104 to another messagingclient application 104, the sending of media files (e.g., images orvideo) from a messaging client application 104 to the messaging serverapplication 114, and for possible access by another messaging clientapplication 104, the setting of a collection of media data story), theretrieval of a list of friends of a user of a client device 102, theretrieval of such collections, the retrieval of messages and content,the adding and deletion of friends to a social graph, the location offriends within a social graph, opening and application event (e.g.,relating to the messaging client application 104).

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including a messaging server application 114, an imageprocessing system 116, a social network system 122, and a classificationbased notification system 124. The Classification based notificationsystem 124 is configured to generate and present a notification at theclient device 110, based on a classification associated with a userconnection. Further details of the classification based notificationsystem 124 can be found in FIG. 3 below.

The messaging server application 114 implements a number of messageprocessing technologies and functions, particularly related to theaggregation and other processing of content (e.g., textual andmultimedia content) included in messages received from multipleinstances of the messaging client application 104. As will be describedin further detail, the text and media content from multiple sources maybe aggregated into collections of content (e.g., called stories orgalleries). These collections are then made available, by the messagingserver application 114, to the messaging client application 104. Otherprocessor and memory intensive processing of data may also be performedserver-side by the messaging server application 114, in view of thehardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes an image processing system 116that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to images or video received within the payload ofa message at the messaging server application 114.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions services, and makes these functions and services available tothe messaging server application 114. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph 304 within thedatabase 120. Examples of functions and services supported by the socialnetwork system 122 include the identification of other users of themessaging system 100 with which a particular user has relationships oris “following,” and also the identification of other entities andinterests of a particular user.

The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a databaseserver 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which isstored data associated with messages processed by the messaging serverapplication 114.

FIG. 2 is block diagram illustrating further details regarding themessaging system 100, according to example embodiments. Specifically,the messaging system 100 is shown to comprise the messaging clientapplication 104 and the application server 112, which in turn embody anumber of some subsystems, namely an ephemeral timer system 202, acollection management system 204 and an annotation system 206.

The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing thetemporary access to content permitted by the messaging clientapplication 104 and the messaging server application 114. To this end,the ephemeral timer system 202 incorporates a number of timers that,based on duration and display parameters associated with a message,collection of messages (e.g., a story), or graphical element,selectively display and enable access to messages and associated contentvia the messaging client application 104. Further details regarding theoperation of the ephemeral timer system 202 are provided below.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managingcollections of media (e.g., collections of text, image video and audiodata). In some examples, a collection of content (e.g., messages,including images, video, text and audio) may be organized into an “eventgallery” or an “event story.” Such a collection may be made availablefor a specified time period, such as the duration of an event to whichthe content relates. For example, content relating to a music concertmay be made available as a “story” for the duration of that musicconcert. The collection management system 204 may also be responsiblefor publishing an icon that provides notification of the existence of aparticular collection to the user interface of the messaging clientapplication 104.

The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curationinterface 208 that allows a collection manager to manage and curate aparticular collection of content. For example, the curation interface208 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of contentrelating to a specific event (e.g., delete inappropriate content orredundant messages). Additionally, the collection management system 204employs machine vision (or image recognition technology) and contentrules to automatically curate a content collection. In certainembodiments, compensation may be paid to a user for inclusion of usergenerated content into a collection. In such cases, the curationinterface 208 operates to automatically make payments to such users forthe use of their content.

The annotation system 206 provides various functions that enable a userto annotate or otherwise modify or edit media content associated with amessage. For example, the annotation system 206 provides functionsrelated to the generation and publishing of media overlays for messagesprocessed by the messaging system 100. The annotation system 206operatively supplies a media overlay (e.g., a filter, lens) to themessaging client application 104 based on a geolocation of the clientdevice 102. In another example, the annotation system 206 operativelysupplies a media overlay to the messaging client application 104 basedon other information, such as, social network information of the user ofthe client device 102. A media overlay may include audio and visualcontent and visual effects. Examples of audio and visual content includepictures, texts, logos, animations, and sound effects, as well asanimated facial models. An example of a visual effect includes coloroverlaying. The audio and visual content or the visual effects can beapplied to a media content item (e.g., a photo or video) at the clientdevice 102. For example, the media overlay including text that can beoverlaid on top of a photograph generated taken by the client device102. In another example, the media overlay includes an identification ofa location overlay (e.g., Venice beach), a name of a live event, or aname of a merchant overlay (e.g., Beach Coffee House). In anotherexample, the annotation system 206 uses the geolocation of the clientdevice 102 to identify a media overlay that includes the name of amerchant at the geolocation of the client device 102. The media overlaymay include other indicia associated with the merchant. The mediaoverlays may be stored in the database 120 and accessed through thedatabase server 118.

In one example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides auser-based publication platform that enables users to select ageolocation on a map, and upload content associated with the selectedgeolocation. The user may also specify circumstances under which aparticular media overlay should be offered to other users. Theannotation system 206 generates a media overlay that includes theuploaded content and associates the uploaded content with the selectedgeolocation.

In another example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides amerchant-based publication platform that enables merchants to select aparticular media overlay associated with a geolocation via a biddingprocess. For example, the annotation system 206 associates the mediaoverlay of a. highest bidding merchant with a corresponding geolocationfor a predefined amount of time

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating components of the classificationbased notification system 124 that configure the classification basednotification system 124 to perform operations to generate and causedisplay of a notification based on a classification associated with auser connection, according to certain example embodiments.

The classification based notification system 124 is shown as including auser profile module 302, a notification module 304, and a presentationmodule 306, all configured to communicate with each other (e.g., via abus, shared memory, or a switch). Any one or more of these modules maybe implemented using one or more processors 308 (e.g., by configuringsuch one or more processors to perform functions described for thatmodule) and hence may include one or more of the processors 308. Incertain embodiments, the avatar notification system 124 may include orhave access to the database 120, wherein the database 120 may comprise acollection of media content indexed based on user attributes andastrological signs.

Any one or more of the modules described may be implemented usinghardware alone (e.g., one or more of the processors 308 of a machine) ora combination of hardware and software. For example, any moduledescribed of the avatar notification system 124 may physically includean arrangement of one or more of the processors 308 (e.g., a subset ofor among the one or more processors of the machine) configured toperform the operations described herein for that module. As anotherexample, any module of the avatar notification system 124 may includesoftware, hardware, or both, that configure an arrangement of one ormore processors 308 (e.g., among the one or more processors of themachine) to perform the operations described herein for that module.Accordingly, different modules of the avatar notification system 124 mayinclude and configure different arrangements of such processors 308 or asingle arrangement of such processors 308 at different points in time.Moreover, any two or more modules of the avatar notification system 124may be combined into a single module, and the functions described hereinfor a single module may be subdivided among multiple modules.Furthermore, according to various example embodiments, modules describedherein as being implemented within a single machine, database, or devicemay be distributed across multiple machines, databases, or devices.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting method 400 of presenting a notificationbased on a user classification, according to certain exampleembodiments. Operations of the method 400 may be performed by themodules described above with respect to FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, themethod 400 includes one or more operations 402, 404, 406, and 408.

At operation 402, the user profile module 302 accesses user profile dataassociated with a user account, wherein the user profile data includes alist of user connections (i.e., a buddy list).

At operation 404, the notification module 304 designates a notificationtype to a portion of the list of user connections, wherein thenotification type corresponds with an alert attribute. In certainexample embodiments, the notification module 304 may designate thenotification type to the portion of the list of user connections basedon one or more of: an explicit user input from the user; based on userattributes of each user from among the portion of the list of userconnections; and based on a communication history between the user andeach user from among the portion of the list of user connections.

Alert attributes of the notification type may include auditory elementsas well as graphical and haptic elements. For example, an alertattribute may include a particular tone or frequency of auditory alert,as well as graphical properties such as one or more graphical icons, orhaptic elements such as a vibrate function.

At operation 406, the client device 102 receives a notification from auser connection from among the portion of the list of user connections.For example, the notification may be a message (i.e., a text message),which may include one or more media objects.

At operation 408, responsive to receiving the notification from the userconnection from among the portion of the list of user connections, thepresentation module 306 presents at alert at the client device 102 basedon the alert attribute that corresponds with the notification typeassociated with the portion of the list of user connections. Forexample, the alert may comprise a particular auditory alert associatedwith the portion of the list of user connections.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting a method 500 of presenting anotification based on a user classification, according to certainexample embodiments. Operations of the method 500 may be performed bythe modules described above with respect to FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 5,the method 500 includes one or more operations 502, 504, and 506.

Operations of the method 500 depicted in FIG. 5 provide an embodimentfor designating a notification type from among a plurality ofnotification types to a portion of a list of user connections associatedwith a user account, wherein the portion of the list of user connectionsmay comprise one or more user identifiers.

Al operation 502, the user profile module 302 receives a first userinput that assigns a classification to the portion of the list of userconnections at the client device 102. For example, a user associatedwith the user account may provide an input that selects or otherwiseidentifies one or more user identifiers that comprise the portion of thelist of user identifiers.

According to certain embodiments, the classification may include anidentification of a relationship or relationship type. For example, theclassification may include: co-worker; work connection; family; closefriend; business connection; neighbor; class-mate; or a user definedclassification. The user of the client device 102 may provide an inputthat assigns the classification to each user among the portion of thelist of user connections.

At operation 504, the user profile module 302 receives a second userinput that designates a notification type to the classification. Asdiscussed above, the notification type may correspond with a particularset of alert attributes, such as auditory elements, haptic elements, andgraphical elements.

At operation 506, responsive to receiving the second user input atoperation 504, the user profile module 302 designates the notificationtype to the portion of the list of user connections that correspond withthe classification. Accordingly, messages and notification receives atthe client device 102 from the portion of the list of user connectionsmay be presented to a user of the client device 102 based on the alertattributes of the corresponding notification type.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting a method 600 of designating anotification type to a user classification, according to certain exampleembodiments. Operations of the method 600 may be performed by themodules described above with respect to FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 6, themethod 600 includes one or more operations 602, 604, 606, and 608.

At operation 602, the user profile module 302 receives a first inputthat selects a portion of a list of user connections associated with auser account from a client device 102. For example, a user of the clientdevice 102 may provide a plurality of inputs that explicitly identifyeach user from among the portion of the list of user connections (i.e.,based on corresponding user identifiers). In further embodiments, theuser of the client device 102 may provide an input that identifies theportion of the list of user connections based on a user attributeassociated with each user among the portion of the list of userconnections.

At operation 604, responsive to the user profile module 302 receivingthe input that selects the portion of the list of user connections, thepresentation module 306 causes display of a plurality of notificationoptions, wherein the plurality of notification options comprisenotification types that have corresponding alert attributes.

At operation 606, the user profile module 302 receives a second userinput that selects a notification type from among the plurality ofnotification options. For example, the second user input may comprise atactile input that selects a graphical icon that corresponds with thenotification type.

At operation 608, responsive to receiving the second user input thatselects the notification type from among the plurality of notificationoptions, the user profile module 302 designates the notification type tothe portion of the list of user connections.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting a method 700 of designating anotification type to a user classification, according to certain exampleembodiments. Operations of the method 700 may be performed by themodules described above with respect to FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 7, themethod 700 includes one or more operations 702, 704, and 706.

At operation 702, the user profile module 302 identifies the portion ofthe list of user connections based on a criteria. For example, thecriteria may include user attributes, location data, as well as acommunication history between a user of the client device 102 and eachuser among the portion of the list of user connections.

At operation 704, the user profile module 302 assigns a userclassification to each user among the portion of the list of userconnections responsive to identifying the portion of the list of userconnections based on the criteria. The classification may include theclassifications discussed above with respect to the methods 400 and 500depicted in FIGS. 4 and 5.

At operation 706, the notification module 306 designates a notificationtype to the portion of the list of user connections based on theclassification that corresponds with the portion of the list of userconnections, in response to identifying the portion of the list of userconnections based on the criteria.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart depicting a method 800 of designating anotification type to a user classification, according to certain exampleembodiments. Operations of the method 800 may be performed by themodules described above with respect to FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 8, themethod 800 includes one or more operations 802, and 804. According tocertain embodiments, the method 800 may be performed as a subroutine ofthe method 700 depicted in FIG. 7.

In certain example embodiments, the criteria described in the method 700may comprise a threshold value, such as a threshold number ofbidirectional messages sent between a user of the client device 102 andeach of the user connections from among the portion of the list of userconnections, over a period of time.

At operation 802, the user profile module 302 determines a rate ofbidirectional communication between a user associated with a useraccount, and each user among a list of user connections. For example,the user profile module 302 may access a user account of the user,wherein the user account comprises a communication log of all messagessent between the user and user connections of the user.

At operation 804, responsive to determining that each user connectionfrom among the portion of the list of user connections are associatedwith a communication history wherein at least the threshold number ofbidirectional communications have been sent, the user profile module 302assigns a classification to the portion of the list of user connections,wherein the classification corresponds with a notification type thatincludes alert attributes.

FIG. 9 is an interface flow-diagram 900 depicting graphical userinterfaces (GUI) generated and displayed by a classification basednotification system 124, according to certain example embodiments.

As seen in the GUI 905, the classification based notification system 124may present a notification to request a user of a client device 102 toprovide inputs to define notification parameters of notificationsreceived from different user classifications. For example, theclassification based notification system 124 may classify userconnections from among a list of user connections based on acommunication history between a user of the client device 102 and eachuser connections from among the list of user connections. Theclassification may for example include a “best friend” classification,wherein the best friend classification may be assigned to a portion ofthe list of user connections with which the user of the client device102 communicates with the most, For example, the top 7 user connectionsin which the user of the client device 102 communicates with.

In further embodiments, and as discussed in the method 800 depicted inFIG. 8, the classification based notification system 124 may designatethe best friend classification to user connections in which acommunication history indicates that the user of the client device 102engages in a threshold number of bidirectional communications (i.e.,messages). For example, user connections in which the user of the clientdevice 102 sends at least 10 messages to per day may be assigned thebest friend classification.

As seen in the GUI 910, a user of the client device 102 may provide aninput to define one or more notification parameters associated with thenotifications presented when a user connection classified as a bestfriend send them a message. For example, the user of the client device102 may provide an input 915 that enables or disables the notificationtype associated with the best friend classification.

Responsive to receiving the input that enables the notification typeassociated with the best friend classification, the classification basednotification system 124 may identify the portion of the list of userconnections based on the methods described herein. For example, theclassification based notification system 124 may identify the usersbased on the bidirectional communication history, or in furtherembodiments based on user attributes of the user from among the portionof the list of user connections, or explicit user inputs received fromthe user of the client device 102, wherein the user input assign thebest friend designation to the portion of the list of user connections.

The classification based notification system 124 may assign thenotification type to the portion of the list of user connectionsresponsive to the input 915. Subsequent to receiving the input 915 thatenables the features, messages received from the portion of the list ofuser connections may be presented based on the alert attributes of thenotification type that corresponds with the classification.

Software Architecture

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example software architecture1006, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described. FIG. 10 is a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. The software architecture 1106 may execute on hardwaresuch as machine 1100 of FIG. 11 that includes, among other things,processors 1104, memory 1114, and I/O components 1118. A representativehardware layer 1052 is illustrated and can represent, for example, themachine 1000 of FIG. 10. The representative hardware layer 1052 includesa processing unit 1054 having associated executable instructions 1004.Executable instructions 1004 represent the executable instructions ofthe software architecture 1006, including implementation of the methods,components and so forth described herein. The hardware layer 1052 alsoincludes memory and/or storage modules memory/storage 1056, which alsohave executable instructions 1004. The hardware layer 1052 may alsocomprise other hardware 1058.

In the example architecture of FIG. 10, the software architecture 1006may be conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer providesparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 1006may include layers such as an operating system 1002, libraries 1020,applications 1016 and a presentation layer 1014. Operationally, theapplications 1016 and/or other components within the layers may invokeapplication programming interface (API) API calls 1008 through thesoftware stack and receive a response as in response to the API calls1008. The layers illustrated are representative in nature and not allsoftware architectures have all layers. For example, some mobile orspecial purpose operating systems may not provide aframeworks/middleware 1018, while others may provide such a layer. Othersoftware architectures may include additional or different layers.

The operating system 1002 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 1002 may include, for example, akernel 1022, services 1024 and drivers 1026. The kernel 1022 may act asan abstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 1022 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 1024 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 1026are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlyinghardware. For instance, the drivers 1026 include display drivers, cameradrivers, Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communicationdrivers (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers,audio drivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on thehardware configuration.

The libraries 1020 provide a common infrastructure that is used by theapplications 1016 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries1020 provide functionality that allows other software components toperform tasks in an easier fashion than to interface directly with theunderlying operating system 1002 functionality (e.g., kernel 1022,services 1024 and/or drivers 1026). The libraries 1020 may includesystem libraries 1044 (e.g., C standard library) that may providefunctions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulationfunctions, mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, thelibraries 1020 may include API libraries 1046 such as media libraries(e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation of variousmedia format such as MPREG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphicslibraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework that may be used to render 2D and3D in a graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLitethat may provide various relational database functions), web libraries(e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsing functionality), and thelike. The libraries 1020 may also include a wide variety of otherlibraries 1048 to provide many other APIs to the applications 1016 andother software components/modules.

The frameworks/middleware 1018 (also sometimes referred to asmiddleware) provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may beused by the applications 1016 and/or other software components/modules.For example, the frameworks/middleware 1018 may provide various graphicuser interface (GUI) functions, high-level resource management,high-level location services, and so forth. The frameworks/middleware1018 may provide a broad spectrum of other APIs that may be utilized bythe applications 1016 and/or other software components/modules, some ofwhich may be specific to a particular operating system 1002 or platform.

The applications 1016 include built-in applications 1038 and/orthird-party applications 1040. Examples of representative built-inapplications 1038 may include, but are not limited to, a contactsapplication, a browser application, a book reader application, alocation application, a media application, a messaging application,and/or a game application. Third-party applications 1040 may include anapplication developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software developmentkit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform,and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such asIOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. Thethird-party applications 1040 may invoke the API calls 1008 provided bythe mobile operating system (such as operating system 1002) tofacilitate functionality described herein.

The applications 1016 may use built in operating system functions (e.g.,kernel 1022, services 1024 and/or drivers 1026), libraries 1020, andframeworks/middleware 1018 to create user interfaces to interact withusers of the system. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systemsinteractions with a user may occur through a presentation layer, such aspresentation layer 1014. In these systems, the application/component“logic” can be separated from the aspects of the application/componentthat interact with a user.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 1100,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 11 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine1100 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions1110 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 1100 to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. As such,the instructions 1110 may be used to implement modules or componentsdescribed herein. The instructions 1110 transform the general,non-programmed machine 1100 into a particular machine 1100 programmed tocarry out the described and illustrated functions in the mannerdescribed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 1100 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 1100 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 1100 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing theinstructions 1110, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to betaken by machine 1100. Further, while only a single machine 1100 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 1110 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 1100 may include processors 1104, memory memory/storage1106, and I/O components 1118, which may be configured to communicatewith each other such as via a bus 1102. The memory/storage 1106 mayinclude a memory 1114, such as a main memory, or other memory storage,and a storage unit 1116, both accessible to the processors 1104 such asvia the bus 1102. The storage unit 1116 and memory 1114 store theinstructions 1110 embodying any one or more of the methodologies orfunctions described herein. The instructions 1110 may also reside,completely or partially, within the memory 1114, within the storage unit1116, within at least one of the processors 1104 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, duringexecution thereof by the machine 1100. Accordingly, the memory 1114, thestorage unit 1116, and the memory of processors 1104 are examples ofmachine-readable media.

The I/O components 1118 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 1118 that are included in a particular machine 1100 willdepend on the type of machine. For example, portable machines such asmobile phones will likely include a touch input device or other suchinput mechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely notinclude such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that the 110components 1118 may include many other components that are not shown inFIG. 11. The I/O components 1118 are grouped according to functionalitymerely for simplifying the following discussion and the grouping is inno way limiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components 1118may include output components 1126 and input components 1128. The outputcomponents 1126 may include visual components (e.g., a display such as aplasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display, aliquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., avibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and soforth. The input components 1128 may include alphanumeric inputcomponents(e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstrument), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and/or force of touches or touch gestures,or other tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the 11/0 components 1118 may includebiometric components 1130, motion components 1134, environmentalenvironment components 1136, or position components 1138 among a widearray of other components. For example, the biometric components 1130may include components to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions,facial expressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking),measure biosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 1134 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environment components 1136 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometer that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases forsafety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other componentsthat may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding toa surrounding physical environment. The position components 1138 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a Global Position system (GPS)receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters orbarometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived),orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1118 may include communication components 1140operable to couple the machine 1100 to a network 1132 or devices 1120via coupling 1122 and coupling 1124 respectively. For example, thecommunication components 1140 may include a network interface componentor other suitable device to interface with the network 1132. In furtherexamples, communication components 1140 may include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, Near Field Communication (NYC) components, Bluetooth®components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1120 may be another machine or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices a peripheral device coupled via a Universal SerialBus (USB)).

Moreover, the communication components 1140 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 1140 may include Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components1140, such as, location via Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location,location via Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting a NFCbeacon signal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

Glossary

“CARRIER SIGNAL” in this context refers to any intangible medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine, and includes digital or analog communications signals orother intangible medium to facilitate communication of suchinstructions. Instructions may be transmitted or received over thenetwork using a transmission medium via a network interface device andusing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols.

“CLIENT DEVICE” in this context refers to any machine that interfaces toa communications network to obtain resources from one or more serversystems or other client devices. A client device may be, but is notlimited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop, portable digitalassistants (PDAs), smart phones, tablets, ultra books, netbooks,laptops, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, game consoles, set-top boxes, or any othercommunication device that a user may use to access a network.

“COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK” in this context refers to one or more portionsof a network that may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, avirtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wirelessLAN (WAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion of theInternet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), aplain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network, another type of network,or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network ora portion of a network may include a wireless or cellular network andthe coupling may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, aGlobal System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or other typeof cellular or wireless coupling. in this example, the coupling mayimplement any of a variety of types of data transfer technology, such asSingle Carrier Radio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-DataOptimized (ENDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology,third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourthgeneration wireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE)standard, others defined by various standard setting organizations,other long range protocols, or other data transfer technology.

“EMPHEMERAL MESSAGE” in this context refers to a message that isaccessible for a time-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be atext, an image, a video and the like. The access time for the ephemeralmessage may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, the access timemay be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient.Regardless of the setting technique, the message is transitory.

“MACHINE-READABLE MEDIUM” in this context refers to a component, deviceor other tangible media able to store instructions and data temporarilyor permanently and may include, but is not be limited to, random-accessmemory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory,optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types of storage(e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and/or anysuitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” shouldbe taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)able to store instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media,that is capable of storing instructions (e.g., code) for execution by amachine, such that the instructions, when executed by one or moreprocessors of the machine, cause the machine to perform any one or moreof the methodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readablemedium” refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as“cloud-based” storage systems or storage networks that include multiplestorage apparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium”excludes signals per se.

“COMPONENT” in this context refers to a device, physical entity or logichaving boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branchpoints, application program interfaces (APIs), or other technologiesthat provide for the partitioning or modularization of particularprocessing or control functions. Components may be combined via theirinterfaces with other components to carry out a machine process. Acomponent may be a packaged functional hardware unit designed for usewith other components and a part of a program that usually performs aparticular function of related functions. Components may constituteeither software components (e.g., code embodied on a machine-readablemedium) or hardware components. A “hardware component” is a tangibleunit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured orarranged in a certain physical manner. In various example embodiments,one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computer system, aclient computer system, or a server computer system) or one or morehardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a groupof processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application orapplication portion) as a hardware component that operates to performcertain operations as described herein. A hardware component may also beimplemented mechanically, electronically, or any suitable combinationthereof. For example, a hardware component may include dedicatedcircuitry or logic that is permanently configured to perform certainoperations. A hardware component may be a special-purpose processor,such as a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). A hardware component may alsoinclude programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configuredby software to perform certain operations. For example, a hardwarecomponent may include software executed by a general-purpose processoror other programmable processor. Once configured by such software,hardware components become specific machines (or specific components ofa machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configured functions and areno longer general-purpose processors. It will be appreciated that thedecision to implement a hardware component mechanically, in dedicatedand permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configuredcircuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and timeconsiderations. Accordingly, the phrase “hardware component”(or“hardware-implemented component”) should be understood to encompass atangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed,permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured(e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certainoperations described herein. Considering embodiments in which hardwarecomponents are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of thehardware components need not be configured or instantiated at any oneinstance in time. For example, where a hardware component comprises ageneral-purpose processor configured by software to become aspecial-purpose processor, the general-purpose processor may beconfigured as respectively different special-purpose processors (e.g.,comprising different hardware components) at different times. Softwareaccordingly configures a particular processor or processors, forexample, to constitute a particular hardware component at one instanceof time and to constitute a different hardware component at a differentinstance of time. Hardware components can provide information to, andreceive information from, other hardware components, Accordingly, thedescribed hardware components may be regarded as being communicativelycoupled. Where multiple hardware components exist contemporaneously,communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., overappropriate circuits and buses) between or among two or more of thehardware components. In embodiments in which multiple hardwarecomponents are configured or instantiated at different times,communications between such hardware components may be achieved, forexample, through the storage and retrieval of information in memorystructures to which the multiple hardware components have access. Forexample, one hardware component may perform an operation and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware component may then, at alater time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware components may also initiate communications with inputor output devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation). The various operations of example methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors.Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processorsmay also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a“cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS).For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a groupof computers (as examples of machines including processors), with theseoperations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and viaone or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an Application ProgramInterface (API)). The performance of certain of the operations may bedistributed among the processors, not only residing within a singlemachine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some exampleembodiments, the processors or processor-implemented components may belocated in a single geographic location (e.g., within a homeenvironment, an office environment, or a server farm). In other exampleembodiments, the processors or processor-implemented components may bedistributed across a number of geographic locations.

“PROCESSOR” in this context refers to any circuit or virtual circuit (a.physical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor)that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g.,“commands”, “op codes”, “machine code”, etc.) and which producescorresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine. Aprocessor may, for example, be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), aReduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a ComplexInstruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit(GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC), a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC)or any combination thereof. A processor may further be a multi-coreprocessor having two or more independent processors (sometimes referredto as “cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously.

“TIMESTAMP” in this context refers to a sequence of characters orencoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, forexample giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a smallfraction of a second.

“LIFT” in this context is a measure of the performance of a targetedmodel at predicting or classifying cases as having an enhanced response(with respect to a population as a whole), measured against a randomchoice targeting model.

“PHONEME ALIGNMENT” in this context, a phoneme is a unit of speech thatdifferentiates one word from another. One phoneme may consist of asequence of closure, burst, and aspiration events; or, a dipthong maytransition from a back vowel to a front vowel. A speech signal maytherefore be described not only by what phonemes it contains, but alsothe locations of the phonemes. Phoneme alignment may therefore bedescribed as a “time-alignment” of phonemes in a waveform, in order todetermine an appropriate sequence and location of each phoneme in aspeech signal.

“AUDIO-TO-VISUAL CONVERSION” in this context refers to the conversion ofaudible speech signals into visible speech, wherein the visible speechmay include a mouth shape representative of the audible speech signal.

“TIME DELAYED NEURAL NETWORK (TDNN)” in this context, a TDNN is anartificial neural network architecture whose primary purpose is to workon sequential data. An example would be converting continuous audio intoa stream of classified phoneme labels for speech recognition.

“BI-DIRECTIONAL LONG-SHORT TERM MEMORY (BLSTM)” in this context refersto a recurrent neural network (RNN) architecture that remembers valuesover arbitrary intervals. Stored values are not modified as learningproceeds. RNNs allow forward and backward connections between neurons.BLSTM are well-suited for the classification, processing, and predictionof time series, given time lags of unknown size and duration betweenevents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: accessing user profile dataassociated with a user account associated with a client device, the userprofile data including a list of user connections; designating anotification type to a portion of the list of user connections, thenotification type corresponding to an alert attribute; receiving anotification from a user connection from among the portion of the listof user connections at the client device; and presenting an alert basedon the alert attribute that corresponds with the notification typeassociated with the portion of the list of user connections at theclient device.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving afirst user input that assigns a classification to the portion of thelist of user connections at the client device; receiving a second userinput that designates the notification type to the classification; anddesignating the notification type to the portion of the list of userconnections associated with the classification in response to thereceiving the second user input.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thedesignating the notification type the portion of the list of userconnections includes: receiving a first user input that selects theportion of the list of user connections; causing display of a pluralityof notification options in response to the first user input that selectsthe portion of the list of user connections, the plurality ofnotification options including the notification type; receiving a seconduser input that selects the notification type from among the pluralityof notification options; and designating the notification type to theportion of the list of user connections in response to the second userinput that selects the notification type from among the plurality ofnotification options.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the alertattribute includes an auditory alert.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinthe alert attribute includes a haptic alert.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the alert attribute includes a graphical icon, and thepresenting the alert includes displaying the graphical icon at theclient device.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the designating thenotification type to the portion of the list of user connectionsincludes: identifying the portion of the list of user connections basedon a criteria; assigning a classification to the portion of the list ofuser connections; and designating the notification type to the portionof the list of user connections assigned to the classification.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the criteria includes a threshold value, andthe identifying the portion of the list of user connections includes:determining a rate of bidirectional communications between the useraccount and each user connection among the portion of the list of userconnections exceeds the threshold value defined by the criteria; andassigning the classification to the portion of the list of userconnections in response to the determining that the rate ofbidirectional communications exceeds the threshold value.
 9. A systemcomprising: a memory; and at least one hardware processor coupled to thememory and comprising instructions that causes the system to performoperations comprising: accessing user profile data associated with auser account associated with a client device, the user profile dataincluding a list of user connections; designating a notification type toa portion of the list of user connections, the notification typecorresponding to an alert attribute; receiving a notification from auser connection from among the portion of the list of user connectionsat the client device; and presenting an alert based on the alertattribute that corresponds with the notification type associated withthe portion of the list of user connections at the client device. 10.The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:receiving a first user input that assigns a classification to theportion of the list of user connections at the client device; receivinga second user input that designates the notification type to theclassification; and designating the notification type to the portion ofthe list of user connections associated with the classification inresponse to the receiving the second user input.
 11. The system of claim9, wherein the designating the notification type to the portion of thelist of user connections includes: receiving a first user input thatselects the portion of the list of user connections; causing display ofa plurality of notification options in response to the first user inputthat selects the portion of the list of user connections, the pluralityof notification options including the notification type; receiving asecond user input that selects the notification type from among theplurality of notification options; and designating the notification typeto the portion of the list of user connections in response to the seconduser input that selects the notification type from among the pluralityof notification options.
 12. The system of claim 9, wherein the alertattribute includes an auditory alert.
 13. The system of claim 9, whereinthe alert attribute includes a haptic alert.
 14. The system of claim 9,wherein the alert attribute includes a graphical icon, and thepresenting the alert includes displaying the graphical icon at theclient device.
 15. The system of claim 9, wherein the designating thenotification type to the portion of the list of user connectionsincludes: identifying the portion of the list of user connections basedon a criteria; assigning a classification to the portion of the list ofuser connections; and designating the notification type to the portionof the list of user connections assigned to the classification.
 16. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the criteria includes a threshold value, andthe identifying the portion of the list of user connections includes:determining a rate of bidirectional communications between the useraccount and each user connection among the portion of the list of userconnections exceeds the threshold value defined by the criteria; andassigning the classification to the portion of the list of userconnections in response to the determining that the rate ofbidirectional communications exceeds the threshold value.
 17. Anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructionsthat, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause themachine to perform operations comprising: accessing user profile dataassociated with a user account associated with a client device, the userprofile data including a list of user connections; designating anotification type to a portion of the list of user connections, thenotification type corresponding to an alert attribute; receiving anotification from a user connection from among the portion of the listof user connections at the client device; and presenting an alert basedon the alert attribute that corresponds with the notification typeassociated with the portion of the list of user connections at theclient device.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium ofclaim 17, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a firstuser input that assigns a classification to the portion of the list ofuser connections at the client device; receiving a second user inputthat designates the notification type to the classification; anddesignating the notification type to the portion of the list of userconnections associated with the classification in response to thereceiving the second user input.
 19. The non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium of claim 17, wherein the designating the notificationtype to the portion of the list of user connections includes: receivinga first user input that selects the portion of the list of userconnections; causing display of a plurality of notification options inresponse to the first user input that selects the portion of the list ofuser connections, the plurality of notification options including thenotification type; receiving a second user input that selects thenotification type from among the plurality of notification options; anddesignating the notification type to the portion of the list of userconnections in response to the second user input that selects thenotification type from among the plurality of notification options. 20.The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, whereinthe alert attribute includes an auditory alert.